LONDON, April 3: Europe's major stock markets rallied on Tuesday, with Frankfurt's DAX breaching 7,000 points, as energy share prices spiked and following overnight gains on Wall Street, dealers said.

The Financial Times meanwhile reported that European stock exchanges have overtaken those in the United States in value for the first time since World War I, a sign of the slipping global dominance of US markets.

Twenty four European markets, including those in Russia and emerging eastern countries, saw their capitalisation rise to 15,720 billion dollars (11,819 billion euros) at the end of last week, the FT said, citing Thompson Financial data.

In late morning trade, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares climbed 0.42 per cent to 6,342.10 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 won 0.88 per cent to 6,998.56. The DAX earlier Tuesday went as high as 7,006.01 points.

In Paris the CAC 40 increased 0.62 per cent to 5,680.33, while the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip shares rose 0.72 per cent to 4,219.59.

The euro stood at 1.3355 dollars.

In London, miners shone thanks to higher metals prices, with Kazakhmys up 2.94 per cent at 1,189 pence and Xstrata advancing 2.70pc to 2,666 pence.

Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.23 per cent at 12,382.30 points on Monday after drifting in a narrow range for most of the day.—AFP